Gourmet Umbria

March 11, 2012

March Break is here, yahoo!  The students all left Friday for a two break week.  

Yesterday, George and I decided to do a day’s drive.  After going down to the Mercato (market) for our weekly Saturday cappuccino and cornetta (marmalade croissant) we headed out in our little Fiat for our day’s adventure.  We drove through the Province of Umbria, and for foodies it is the place to go.  Our first stop was Norcia.  This town is known as Italy’s finest for their dried and cured meats.  We saw many shops with sausages and the like hanging from the ceiling (Christine, tell Terry he would be salivating if he were here).  The town is also a large producer of truffles and related products.  As we were in Norcia over lunch, we bought a couple of sandwiches filled with fresh prosciutto and arugula  and had a little picnic sitting in the square.  

We then headed to Spoleto.  Our route through the Apennine Mountains was beautiful.  Many of the exposed rocks had touches of pink.   Spoleto is a beautiful town with ancient Roman buildings and streets and lovely middle ages articecture.  in particular because of its location, the dense forests in the high country is where you find the very expensive truffles.

Upon returning to Lanciano in the early evening we had a feast of fresh sausages, cheese and pasta for dinner and of course a nice rich red Montepulciano wine.

This morning we did our valley walk, 6.5 km with Toby.  

Tomorrow morning Toby will be going to Maria's and Tonino's home for his vacation.  Toby loves going to their home.  They treat him like a king.  Once we drop Toby off we are then headed to Rome to pick up Diane and then head down to Sorrento.